Dmitri Gloukhovsky, 44, enjoyed immense success with his first novel, Metro 2033, published in 2005 and sold several hundred thousand copies all over the world. This dystopian trilogy takes place after a nuclear disaster which forced the few survivors to take refuge in the Moscow metro. The book inspired the creation of a video game. But his satirical columns on Russian politics published in the newspaper Novaya Gazeta triggered the ire of the Kremlin.
Exiled in Europe for almost two years, the writer and journalist was the subject of an arrest warrant last year by his country’s courts, which accuse him of having “discredited the Russian armed forces” and for making the Russian president responsible for the conflict. His message, posted on Instagram, read: “No to the war in Ukraine. Admit that this is a real war against the entire Ukrainian people and stop it!” On August 7, 2023, Dmitri Glukhovsky was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison. On October 18, L’Express awarded him its Freedom Prize, presented by former President François Hollande, for his commitment to freedom of expression and against authoritarian power. In an interview with our magazine, he believes that a victory for Vladimir Putin in Ukraine “would strengthen his regime”. According to him, the Russian autocrat took the country back to dark times, when young people aspired to more freedoms. Interview.
L’Express: The Ukrainian counter-offensive seems to have reached an impasse, at a time when the conflict in the Middle East is diverting attention from this war in Europe. In the United States, Donald Trump, who has every chance in the race for the White House, is in favor of stopping aid to Ukraine. Is Vladimir Putin, who is playing the long game, winning the game?
Dmitry Glukhovsky: As long as Vladimir Putin is alive, he will pose an existential threat to Europe. The key remains European solidarity. But it takes time and patience. I never thought that things could be resolved in the space of a year or two. It may take a decade.
Putin thinks time is on his side. He believes – wrongly – that the Russian people today have as much tolerance for death, human losses and poverty as during the Soviet era. Contrary to what is believed in Europe, Russians do not provide unconditional support for the war: only 10 to 15% defend Putin’s policies. Others are passive and fatalistic. This is why we are not witnessing any large-scale protests in the country.
In reality, the long term is on the side of Europe which has economic and military power. And, who must assume it in a united way. Even if the effects are less spectacular than one might have imagined, the Russian economy is suffering from the sanctions. The ruble has lost half of its value, the supply of technological equipment is becoming more and more difficult. The enormous public expenditure caused by the war economy, the rearmament of the country, the payment of bonuses to the military, to the families of deceased soldiers will weigh heavily on the Russian budget. Europe must not doubt: it has more resistance and wealth. She must not become impatient or despair and on the contrary build a long-term project to further isolate Russia from Putin.
I am absolutely convinced that the only way for Europe – and France – to ensure prolonged peace is to continue full support for Ukraine. The Ukrainians are fighting because it is an existential question for them, but they are also weakening the most dangerous dictatorship in Europe today. The survival of the Baltic States, but also of Poland and Finland, is at stake.
The only way to win this war is to provide financial and military support to the Ukrainians. It is also in the interests of the Russian people. I consider myself a Russian patriot, but for me, the Russia of my dreams is a democratic and open country, which has the right to develop freely.
How does the war Middle East is she reshuffling the cards for the Ukrainians?
Europeans and Americans alike are increasingly tired of this war in Ukraine; the forehead is frozen and weariness sets in.
I note that a Hamas delegation went to Moscow at the end of October. This terrorist act and the Israeli response undeniably allow Vladimir Putin to divert global attention from the conflict in Ukraine.
Europe must not fall into the trap of manipulation by the Kremlin and the Islamists and must absolutely continue to support Ukraine militarily. The implications of an extension of the conflict in the Middle East appear more dangerous for global stability than the conflict in Ukraine, but Putin’s imperialist aims constitute a strategic threat to Europe. And she must not forget it.
What would happen if Putin won the war in Ukraine?
I don’t believe in it, but we must do everything to prevent it. It would be a catastrophe for Europe, but also for Russia. A victory would strengthen Vladimir Putin: it would sanctify his regime and make it almost eternal, even after his death.
The aim of this war was of course not to “denazify” Ukraine, as the propaganda insists. But to assimilate the Ukrainian regime, in a sort of imperialist reconquest. By doing this, Vladimir Putin and the former KGB who have ruled the country for more than twenty years are seeking to preserve their interests. Their concern is the transmission of the immense wealth that they have stolen, but also of their power, to the next generation, that of their children. It is the first time since Peter the Great that the tsar is also the owner of the country’s wealth.
They must secure this transfer of power to the members of the second generation – who would thus become the children of the conquerors – through a great victory. The bloodier it is, the more sacred it will be for all those who have lost loved ones. As was the victory of the USSR during the Second World War.
Will power become even tougher in Russia?
Yes, inevitably, because of the nature of Vladimir Putin’s power. Next year we will witness a mock presidential election, a simple ritual of obedience. No opposition politician will ever have the right to participate in elections. After his “re-election”, he will continue to lead the country towards dictatorship.
In Moscow, the appearance of normal life is preserved. But everyone is scared. All the people who oppose the power, have left the country or do not dare to act. All political resistance has been eradicated. That doesn’t mean people agree. Fear and conformity are the two words the state of mind of people in Russia. They have the feeling of being watched all the time (by cameras, on social networks, etc.).
Ukrainians were able to develop a rather Western consciousness because they experienced victories against abusive power during the Maidan revolution in 2014. This gave people the feeling that they could challenge power and earn. In Russia, we have always lost to power, since the beginning of the Soviet era. This results in a perception of an all-powerful State. People never feel like they can win this struggle.
It is true that we are not witnessing massive waves of arrests, as was the case under Stalin. But people feel like they can be arrested at any time.
It seems that the repression is being carried out in a targeted manner, to scare everyone…
Absolutely. This is the technique adopted by a sophisticated and technological dictatorship. It does not need to carry out mass repression: power seeks to make examples. In the intellectual and artistic world, for example, the authorities punished a representative of each professional sector: one for cinema producers, one for theater directors, one for writers – myself, in this case . Most of these people had already left the country, so they are not directly threatened.
The Kremlin wants to avoid attracting attention by imprisoning too many people. Only politicians, activists and political journalists have so far been entitled to this treatment. Artists not yet, but they are under great pressure.
Should we give up the idea that Russia could one day become democratized?
Before the war in Ukraine, I thought that Putin and his clique would only stay in power for about ten years. And that the natural development of Russian society, especially of youth, was to take a completely opposite direction. That of global culture and contemporary Western values. Not that of fascism and nationalism.
But the unprecedented hysteria of Russian propaganda has managed to send the younger generation back into the darkness of the past. This propaganda plays a lot with Russian stereotypes: war, sacrifices, bloodshed, loyalty to the homeland. Young people will grow up with the idea of an existential hatred towards the West.
Putin mixes values and images from Soviet times and the Middle Ages. On the one hand a very fundamentalist and conservative use of religion; whether Christian or Muslim (in certain provinces), on the other an ideology which denies any path towards a free world. It’s the hysterical attitude of a man from the past to try to prevent the future from happening.
The younger generation is, in my opinion, mostly against the war, but they do not dare to oppose the government. It is an atomized, demoralized, and very conformist society. We should not, I believe, think that this fascist hysteria which is projected by those in power is sincerely shared by the people.
You were sentenced in early August to eight years in prison in absentia. How are you living today?
I had been wanted by the Russian police for a year. I feel some relief that Interpol refused the search request requested by the Russian authorities. For my part, I will not be able to return home to Russia until there is a regime change. But I accepted it.
I often dream that I am returning to Moscow: I look around, I remember that I am wanted, and then I try to escape. This is the first time in my life that I made a r hasve recurring. Am I afraid? Several cases of poisoning of Russian journalists in exile in Europe have been reported. So it’s a possibility
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